Day or night, Tiger burns bright

Day or night, Tiger burns bright

AKRON (Ohio), AUGUST 28: Tiger Woods left his opponentsin the dark, literally, here on Sunday when he set another record to win the five million-dollar World Golf Championship Invitational by 11 shots.

``This is how it used to be,'' said Woods, who successfully defended his title. ``This is how I grew up playing. We used to sneak out on the golf course in the twilight.''

Play was suspended for three hours because of lightning and heavy rain, but as darkness approached Wood was not worried by the conditions.

With visibility near zero, his approach shot from 167 yards on the par-4 18th hole landed just three feet from the cup. The crowd roared and flicked lighters in appreciation as Woods walked to the green, where he tapped in the birdie putt amid a flurry of flashbulbs.

Now he has proved he can also play at a high level in near darkness.

Woods, the best player in the world, finished with a total of 21-under 259 and broke Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal's mark of 262 set in 1990, when the event was known as the World Series of Golf.

He began the round with a nine-shot cushion and a 17-1 record when leading after 54 holes and finished 11 shots better than just in Leonard and Wales' Phillip Price, but one stroke shy of Olazabal's record victory margin.

``We finished pretty late and I'm glad we got it in,'' said Woods, who increased his season's earnings by one million dollars and will have a chance at another 1.1 million-dollars on Monday when he will meet Spain's Sergio Garcia in the Battle of Bighorn in California.

For Woods, the records just keep coming. This was his third career one million-dollar payday, ushing his yearly total to $7,692,821 and his career total to $19,007,821.

It was also his eighth win this season, his 15th in his last 26 events and the 23rd of his career. He became only the second player to win eight events in consecutive years, joining Byron Nelson, who won his tournaments in 1944-45. In only his fourth full year on the PGA Tour, Woods has more wins than any active tour member under 50.

The Invitational is now part of the World Golf Championships series, which began last year and, for the record, Woods has won three of the five events.